Apparatus for well drilling



Nov. 18, 1930. G. D. PARKER 4 1,731,989

APPARATUS FOR WELL DRILLING Filed Aug. 18, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet l A f 1'4 I w: i T-. t O T- I L I Q ra -m 5- I c) H H Nov. 18, 1930. PARKER1,781,989

APPARATUS FOR WELL DRILLING Filed Aug. 18, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i- QEH1 VIII/(III! Patented Nov. 18, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGED. PARKER, OF RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA; CLARA B. PARKER EXECUTRIX OF WILLOF SAID GEORGE D. PARKER, DECEASED APPARATUS FOR WELL DRILLINGApplication filed August 18, 1923.

' drill encounters hard strata while running at full speed, under fullengine power and high steam pressure.

If'the operators were always conscientious and watched the action of themachinery carefully, and fed the drills carefully into the formation,the breakages would not be so'frequent. I have found that many times thedrill is forced beyond its endurance and purposely broken so the crewmay disport themselves as they wish while a few fish for the brokendrill, which operation may be manipulated in such a manner as to beunduly prolonged, or it may be that they never get the broken part outof the hole, in which case that particular hole must be abandoned asthey cannot proceed with the drilling with part of a broken drillblocking the way.

I have also found that a tacit understanding exists among drilling crewswhereby more or less time is wasted by letting their drills circulate,as they call it. This particular procedure contemplates lowering thedrill part way into the hole but not to the bottom, and while thussuspended in space, the drilling machinery is set into slow motion andthus run idle for quite long periods of time. The crew meantime goingaway on missions of pleasure. This practice is particularly true of thenight crews, who occupy the time in sleep.

At stated periods a general report is made covering all of the drillcrews belonging to one rig and in making up this report the totalfootage of all the crews of the rig is added up and divided by thenumber of crews operating, this latter amount, slightly juggled perhapsso that all will not be exactly the same, is then credited to theseveral crews so that the report indicates that Serial No. 658,152.

each crew has been working as per schedule and no evidence is availableto show otherwise.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a method and apparatuswhereby the whole operation of drilling may be controlled by eithermanually, or automatically controlled operating devices, in such mannerthat only sufficient power may be applied to operate the drill undernormal conditions, and which will compel the operator to use thenecessary caution in the manipulation of the apparatus to preventbreakages.

These control means will permit the transmission mechanism to slip whenundue resistance is encountered by the drill and will practicallyeliminate breakage from this cause.

Another object of the invention resides in'so connecting and correlatingthe several control means that the operator may manipulate the apparatusthrough manual controls where the nature of the work will permit, orwhere it may seem more desirable to do it this way, and to immediatelyutilize the automatic controls where that means seems preferable.Changing from one to the other at will may be preferable while drillingthrough strata of differing resistance.

The automatic control means under certain conditions of operation willbe found preferable to the manual control on account of itssensitiveness to variations in resistance met by the point of the drill.

The maximum torque load that any drill shank of given cross section willsustain may easily be determined, and after once ascertained theautomatic control means may be adjusted to operate at any point beforethis maximum torque load is reached and thus relieve the strain on themechanism and permit the drill to encounter this increased torquegradually. even to the point of reversing-the operative means and thuslift the drill slightly from the work, thus immediately reducing theresistance when the mechanism will at once return the drill to the workand permit it to take a new bite and gradually work' its way through theobstruction. This method of operation becomes particularly desirablewhere a new and sharp drill is being used, the sharp teeth bitin morequickly and deeper than after they ecome somewhat worn.

Another object of the invention resides in providing automatic recordingmeans whereby a time chart will indicate and automaticall record theamount of power utilized in t e apparatus over fixed periods of time,for example over periods of twenty four hours. This automatic recordingdevice to be connected with and operable by the power medium being used,which may be steam, air,

electricity or any other medium suitable for the purpose. This indicatorwould show a minimum or no consumption of power if the apparatus was runidle, while if worked to the maximum of its ability would show themaximum consumption of power. Likewise during ordinary operations wherethe drill is continually meeting and overcoming varying resistance, thepower consumption will vary with the resistance with the result that thechart line over the period, will show peak loads all along its courseand will give a very accurate and intelligible record of this workperiod. This record will be produced automatically and will be containedin a sealed compartment, available only to such person or persons as areinterested in getting the maximum amount of work out of the crews andrigs. Under this method of charting the operations of a drill outfitevery phase and variation of power consumption will be indicated andthus enable the inspector or superintendent of the outfit to know justwhat each crew has accomplished during their shift. and to intelligentlycompare the work of the several crews. If a crew circulated their drilland thus neglected their work the chart would show a period of uniformpower flow of a minimum pressure and immediately indicate to theinspector that such circulation had been indulged in. He would know thatdrilling could not be accomplished with so low a power consumption. Onthe other hand, a comparison of the chart lines with the actual depth ofholes drilled over the chart periods, by the different crews wouldindicate whether the lines were produced by the drill actually go ingthrough strata or whether the chart was produced through fraudulentmanipulation of the apparatus to make it appear that actual work hadbeen done. It appears therefore that the foregoing method of indicatingand recording work done with apparatus of this type, marks an importantstep of advance in the art.

In addition to the recording indicator I will place a visual indicatorin such a position that the operator may at all times know exactly thepressure he is employing to do the work. This indicator will have pointsof normal operation and danger point indicatvsrese ed as well as amovable hand indicating the actual pressure being employed at everyinstant. This will enable the operator to watch his work and the instantthe movable hand indicates a sudden increase in pressure due to thedrill encountering added resistance he will immediately ease oil on thefeed of the drill into the formation and thus give it a chance to workits way gradually through the material. By means of watching thisindicator and manipulating his operative devices accordingly he will beable to overcome most any condition without the danger of breakage ordisablement of the machinery.

Another object of the invention resides in providing a reduction geararrangement of quite a high gear ratio, for raising and lowering thedrill, which reduction gear may be manipulated manually or automaticallyas may be desired. Means are provided whereby the operator may instantlyapply either the manual or the automatic control to the operation inhand. Suitable levers and other manipulative devices are carried topositions of most convenient accessibility.

With such objects in view as well as other advantages inherent in theinventlon, the

- novel structure peculiarities, novel organization of elements, and theseparate and collective ope-rations involved in carrying out the recitedobjects of my invention, which will be made the subject matter of claimshereto appended. I wish it understood that the several necessaryelements and combinations constituting the same may be varied in theirproportions, placement and general arrangement without departing fromthe scope and nature of my invention.

In carrying out the objects of my invention in a concrete form ormachine, further objects, advantages and improvements have been evolvedthan have been recited, and in order to make the invention more clearlyunderstood there are shown, somewhat diagrammatically, in theaccompanying drawings means and mechanism embodying the preferredstructural arrangement and the preferred disposition of the differentparts and combinations, without limiting my claims to the details ofconstruction shown, in which I have simply illustrated one way ofembodying the creative part or conception of the invention in a concreteform of machine or apparatus. The described devices are simplyembodiments of the invention which other structures might also employand some of the parts or combinations of parts may be used without theothers in different types of such apparatus without departure from thepurview of my invention and I regard myself as entitled to suchvariations from the shown and described devices as fall within the scopeand meaning of the claims here to appended.

In connection with the drawings illustrating my invention forming a partof this specification I wish to further point out that the generalarrangement of the related parts, their placement and operative timinghave been so shown and displayed that a clear and comprehensiveunderstanding of the invention may be had. In order to do this mosteffectively it seemed desirable to show the various parts and operativeelements in somewhat diagrammatic form and omit from the drawings all ofthe apparatus connected with the bailing of sand and water out of thehole and for lowering and placing the casings, showing only such partsand elements that have a bearing on the drilling operations.

Throughout this specification I will refer to steam as a power medium. Ido this on account of the very general use of this ele ment, but wish itunderstood that any other power medium is applicable to a practice anduse of my improved method and apparatus. For example, electricity is avery generally used power medium and may be used to 0perate drilling anddrill control mechanism in practically the same manner as steam or anyother flexible medium.

Referring now to the drawings forming a part of this specification inwhich like figures of reference indicate like parts in the several.

views.

Figure 1 represents a plan of an apparatus embodying my invention. Inthis view the drilling implement is shown as connected by the severalclutches to the main source of power, here indicated as a steam engine,while the drill lowering and raising Windlass and attending mechanism isshown disconnected from the main power source and is thus controllableby means of the manual control devices or the automatic control devices.Only a part of the tower is shown.

Figure 2 is a vertical elevation looking in the direction of the arrows22 of Figure 1 showing the arrangement and placement of the variousparts and elements constituting the manual and automatic control devicesfor raising and lowering the drilling implement into the formation. Thisview shows only the parts connected with this assemblage; the parts ofthe apparatus lying beyond have been omitted to avoid confusion.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the apparatus as shown in Fig. 1 withthe various parts and operative elements in practically the samepositions as Fig. 1. This view shows some additional parts of the towerto better illustrate a way of mounting the various instruments andelements attending the operation of the apparatus.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the steam pressure gauge illustrating howthe normal and danger signal hands would be arranged nary constructionin its entirety. The tower of Fig. 1 is broken away and some partsomitted from this figure are shown in Figure 3 so that its showing inthese two views will not coincide in all particulars. 2 represents asteam engine of the ordinary type used for drilling purposes. 3represents the main steam line conve 'ng steam to the engine and otherparts 0 the apparatus where steam is employed. 4 represents an ordinaryreducing valve by means of which the steam pressure may be regulated toany pressure desired and thus confine the operations to that pressurewhich may be low enough to prevent breakage of the drill or any otherpart of the mechanism. This device used 7 without any of the otherappliances would have a very great tendency to eliminate many of thetroubles now encountered in using unlimited pressure. With this devicealone the operator would be unable to force the drilling implementbeyond its endurance; when it struck sufiicient resistance it wouldsimply stop all of the machinery and the operator would have to lift itaway from the resistance and give it a new start and by handling itcarefully would be able to get it going again without trouble. 5represents a by-pass line and 6 and 7 indicate valves by means of whichthe reducing valve may be cut out entirely and the steam admitted to theengine without control as to pressure. This is to overcome instanceswhere the reduced pressure will not meet conditions and it may bedesirable to have more pressure available for temporary use. 8represents a throttle valve for admitting steam to the engine inmeasured quantities, this valve is controlled from the operatorsposition by means of a bevel gear and pinion being manipulated through arod extending to the operators 1position and terminating in a hand whee-9. A shunt pipe line 10 runs from the main steam line and distributessteam under pressure to the visual steam pressure gauge 11, the recordinindicator 12, the automatic control cylinder 13 and the drill raisingand lowering engine 14.

The en inc 2 is of the reversing type and delivers its through asuitable chain and sprockets 16. The countershaft 15 carries near oneend the drill rotating sprockets and chain 17, controlled by the clutch18. On this same end ower to a countershaft 15 I of the countershaft islocated the main power drill lowering mechanism including the sprocketand chain 19, the controlling move ment is accomplished with the clutch20 controlled in the usual manner through a manually-operable lever 20.The other end of the countershaft 15 carries another sprocket and chain21 having the usual clutch-controlling connection 21' with the windingdrum. This chain 21 is operated by reversing the engine and is utilizedas the main power drill raising mechanism. These mechanisms are utilizedonly when the drill is raised and lowered long distances, the slightraising and lowering incident to the actual drilling operation isgenerally accomplished with the reduction gear arrangement througheither manual or power control.

The winding drum for raising and lowering the drill is indicated by thenumeral 22 being equipped on either end with suitable brake drums 22 andcarrying around its central portion the cable 23 which is directlyconnected with the drilling implement.

On one end of the winding drum is secured the large gear 24 meshing withthe driving pinion 25.

-My improved method of control of the drill during the actual drillingoperations is centered about the mechanism now to be described. Arocking bracket 26 is pivotally mounted at 27 and is controlled in itsmovements by the foot operated pedal 28; when the pedal is in theposition of that shown in Fig. 3 the gear 24 and pinion 25 are inoperative mesh. When the pedal is placed in the opposite position thegear 24 and pinion 25 would be disconnected and the winding drum wouldbe free to rotate of its own accord or through the gravity pull of thedrilling implement. Mounted on the swinging bracket 26 is an ordinaryreduction gear housing 29, having a gear 30 secured to its outer facehaving a handle 30 for manual 0 eration when desired. The inner face oft e reduction gear casing 29 carries a locking ratchet and pawl 31 whichwill prevent the sudden dropping of the drill when it is beingmanipulated by hand, the pawl being fixedly mounted on the bracket 26.The bracket 26 is held firmly in operative position as in Figs. 1 and 2by means of the toggle link 32. Mounted on the upper end of the bracket26 IS a reversing engine of usual type indicated by the numeral 14,carrying a pinion 33 meshing with the reduction ear 30. This enginereceives power throug the system of pipin as previously described. Thereversing ever 34 has two connections, one a power controlled connectionand the other a gravity controlled connection indicated respectively bythe numerals 35 and 36. The power controlled connection terminates in aplunger riding in the control cylinder 13, and the gravity connectionterminates in the weight 37. A valve 38 controls the admission of steamto the cylinder 13 whereby said cylinder may be out out of operation ifdesired. 4

The mechanism that actually turns the drill is comprised of a frictioncontrolled gear 39 and its companion pinion 40. The construction of thisfriction control is illus trated in detail in Fig. 6, where itwill benoted that a central sleeve 41 terminates in a cupped head 42, freelyrotatable on this sleeve 41 is the gear 39. Directly over the gear 39 isanother cupped disk 43 preferably secured to the sleeve 41. Frictionwashers 44 are interposed between the disk 43, the

head 42 and the web faces of the gear 39 and are held infrictionalrelation by means of the adjustin screws 45 carried by the fixed plate46. T is manner of friction drive is provided as an additional safetydevice and may be set to relieve the drill at's'uch times as suddenresistance is encountered when the operator or the automatic mechanismwould not be quick enough to offer relief. It should be adjusted torelieve the drill just before the maximum torque is reached which willprevent the drill from being broken. .,The drill implement is indicatedby the numeral 47.

The carr ing out of my improved method would resu t in approximately thefollowing operative procedure.

In describing the operation we will assume that we are dealing with arig that is working on a partially drilled hole.

The main operator is located at approximately the point indicated by thecircle A on Fig. 1. In this position he has easy access to all of thecontrol levers, the throttle of the main steam engine and the manuallyand automatically controlled devices for handling the drill during thedrilling operation. We will assume first that the only control device inthe entire apparatus is the reducing valve 4 in the main steam line andthat this valve is adjusted to admit just sufiicient pressure to operatethe drill under ordinary drilling'conditions. This being the case wewill assume that the drill meets resistance that the operating pressurecannot overcome. The only recourse left to the operator is to raise thedrill from the working contact and relieve the resistance when thelimited power will immediately start it to rotating again when theoperator will lower it to the work and by careful manipulation he willbe able to overcome the resistance and continue with the drilling.

If a time comes when the pressure admitted by the reducing valve is notsuflicient to overcome the resistance then he must cut out the reducingvalve temporarily and use the full steam pressure until the resistanceis overcome when he will revert back to operating with the reducingvalve furnishing the steam. plan will very materially reduce thebreakages due to too high a steam pressure and too much wer appliedwithout due caution but is limited in its application to the times whenthe set pressure cannot do the work. The reducing valve is desirableat'all times and with all methods of operation but used in connectionwith the other appliances provided its action is the more effective.

We will now suppose that the reducing valve is still utilized as justdescribed but in order to safely use a higher steam pressure and stillinsure safety from breakage we will incorporate in the mechanism thefriction driven gear mechanism as is illustrated in Fig. 6. This willenable us to apply a steam pressure suflicient to overcome any ordinaryresistance met by the drill and we will set the friction on the drivinggear to just slip before the maximum torque load of the drill isreached. Almost any time such a load is reached it comes suddenly andunless relief is immediate the drill will break, this friction drivewill act as a safety element in the drillin mechanism and will surelyprotect the drill under the extreme conditions of operation. It iseasily seen that a somewhat more eflicient control is thus rovided. Infact the reducing valve can sa ely be eliminated if the friction driveis always in line, the two together however, will give a somewhat moreelastic drive.

With these two devices in place we will now incorporate in the system ofcontrol another device that will be a combined manual and automaticdrill feed control that will be so sensitive in its operation that everyphase and variation of resistance met b the drill will be instantlytransmitted to t is control device and the feed of the drillinto theformation eased and fondled until the resistance is gradually overcomewithout the least bit of danger of breakage or disruption of themechanism, except in such cases where the drill meets resistance thatcauses instant stoppa e, when the friction gear mechanism will lnstantlytake care of it.

This combined manual and automatic control device for the feeding of thedrill into the formation comprises the mechanism of Fig. 2. Thereduction gear mechanism 29 may be of any desired type or constructionand may be of any ratio to fit it for the particular work in hand. Thegreater the ratio the easier it may be manually manipulated, while thelesser the ratio the more sensitive it will be under the automaticcontrol, therefore a ratio will be adopted that will adapt it to bothmethods of control. In the operation of this combined control device theoperator will probably start with the hand feature and slowly lower thedrill into the formation and as soon as it has taken hold he willconnect the automatic and let it take care of itself. From now on thefollowing things may happen.

Suppose everything is working smoothly and suddenly the drill meetsunexpected resistance, but not of suflicient extent to cause thefriction gear 39 to slip. This immediate resistance Wlll call for moresteam pressure which will be immediately available on account of thesudden slowing down of the mechanism this in turn will admit morepressure behind the piston in the cylinder 13 and cause it to moveforward against the ravitational pull of the weight 3 which is oldingthe drill to its work. This movement of the piston will in turn move thereversing lever 3a toward the reverse side of the engine 14 and ease upon the down feed of the drill; if this does not relieve the situation acontinued movement of the piston in the cylinder 13 will reverse the enine 14 and the drill will be slightly lifted rom working contact when itwill immediately reach its normal rotative speed and on account of beingrelieved from the resistance the power requlred to rotate it will becorrespondingly decreased causing a reduction in the steam pressurewhich will immediately permit the weight 37 to overcome the pressureback of the piston in the cylinder 13 and again lower the drill tofa'itswork. If the resistance persists and the drill.

is still unable to get through it the same 0 eration ust described willbe repeated, the rill will be raised and lowered alternately until suchtime as the resistance is overcome when matters will proceed in theordinary normal manner. This operation will continue indefinitely solong as steam is supplied to the operation of the mechanism.

If at any time the operator desires to ma-' nipulate the control deviceby hand while the steam is on he has only to open the sto cock 13' inthe bottom of the cylinder 13 an close the valve 38 when the piston willreciprocate without resistance and he may do whatever he wishes with thecontrol.

Whenever it is necessaryto lift the drilling implement entirely out ofthe hole, the foot pedal 28 is operated to disconnect the gear 24 andthe pinion 25 when the regular power mechanism will do the liftingthrough the medium of the sprocket and chain drive 21 and the clutch onthis end of the Windlass drum. When it comes time to again lower thedrill into the hole both the clutches on the drum shaft will bedisconnected and the drill will be permitted to fall by gravity butcontrolled by means of the brake lever 48 actuating the brake bands oneach end of the winding drum. The operator will know when he has reachednear the bottom when he will brake the drum, throw into engagement thegear 24 and pinion 25 and complete the lowering of the drill by means ofmanually operating. the reduction gear device 29. From now on theoperation will be continued as has been described.

The reduction gear mechanism 29 that I refer to in connection with thecontrol of the in proper time and has an inking or perforatfeeding ofthe drill to the formation, may be of the planetary type, or of anyother type that will give sufiicient ratio to suit it to this kind ofduty.

\Vhen the operator is manipulating the re duction gear control-by handhis whole attention will be directed to the steam gauge 11 which will atall times indicate to him just the amount of power and pressure he isadmitting to the. mechanism. The pressure hand will be moving constantlywith the varying power and it will be'his duty to maintain it near thelocation of the normal indicating hand, which location may be adjustedto suit any conditions of operation. The meeting of a sudden resistancewill cause the pressure hand to immediately run up toward the dangerline, assuming for the time being that we are operating without thefriction gear 39, the connection here being fixed, as the handapproaches the danger lines the operator turns the reduction geararrangement to slightly raise the drill from its work and relieve theresistance, immediately lowering it again and so manipulating it untilthe resistance is overcome. With the friction gear 39 in use the dangerof too much pressure applied suddenly is not serious as the gear willslip when this occurs.

The recording indicator may opening so anyone can see the chart line asit is being produced or it may be sealed against visual inspectionexcept by those who have a right to inspect it. The record slip isprovided with suitable ruling to indicate the time of year, day of monthand the hours of the period covered, it is moved by clock works ingindicating pointer that will inscribe a line on the strip correspondinto the varying pressure employed during t e period covered by the chart.These charts will tell a very interesting story. Every variation ofpower will be indicated by the irregular line laced there by the evermoving indicating nger. The ruling of the chart as shown is not nearlyas fine as will be used. The hour intervals should be quite extended sothat every few minutes varying pressure would show a bend in the chartline. A comparison of charts from the rigs forming a set under the samesupervision will indicate those that are operating consistently andthose that may be triflers. The shape of the chart line in comparisonwith the footage produced by the different towers will also indicatewhat is being done by the various crews.

It is understood that the various arrows on the several views indicatethe directions of movement without further reference thereto.

It is believed that the foregoing description of the method andapparatus and the operation of the same covers all of the essentialfeatures connected with such operation, and while there may be morepoints that have a visual could he specifically referred to they are ofminor importance and will readily occur to anyone skilled in the art.

\Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Anapparatus for drilling Wells comprising a source of power, atransmission mechanism including a friction power transmitting element,separate motive means for controlling the operative position of saiddrilling implement, said power means being operable through resistancemet by said drilling implement.

2. An apparatus for drilling wells comprising transmission mechanism anda drilling implement, a flexible medium for imparting movement to saidtransmission mechanism and drilling implement, separate power means fordriving motion from said flexible mediunnand for controllin theoperative position of said drilling impl ement, the flow of saidflexible medium to said separate power means being determined by theresistance met by said drilling im lement.

3. An apparatus for dri ling wells comprising a source of power, atransmission mechanism and a drilling implement, power means forcontrolling the operative position of said drilling implement includinga reversible power element, gravity means for controlling one directionof movement of said power element and pressure means for controlling theother direction of movement of said power element.

4. A drill control, comprising a. fluid pressure motor for raising andlowering the drill,

a plunger to be operated by such fluid pressure under abnormal drillresistance to decrease the motor speed, and a Weight-operated connectionfor restoring the motor to normal speed on release of plunger pressure.

5. A controlling device for a. drum of a. drillin machine comprisingdriving mechanism riven by an engine and adapted to drive said drum; anda piston and cylinder responsive to the pressure of the operating mediumofthe engine for operating and con trolling said driving mechanism.

6. An apparatus for drilling wells comprising a source of power, adrilling implement, transmission mechanism between said source of powerand said drilling implement including a friction driven element, withmeans engaging said drilling element for moving the same into and out ofoperative position responsive to a power increase demand beyond thenormal demand.

7. An apparatus for drilling wells comprising a source of power, adrilling implement, transmission mechanism between said source of powerand said drilling implement including a friction power transmittingelement operable under abnormal conditions with means engaging saiddrilling implement for moving the same into and out of operativeposition responsive to a. power increase demand beyond the normaldemand, and means for disrupting connections in said engaging means.

8. An apparatus for drilling wells comprising a source of power and adrilling implement, means engaging said drilling implement for raisingand lowering the same into and out of operative position, means directlyresponsive to and automatically governed in direct and reverse movementby a variable amount of power from the power.

source for raising and lowering said drilling implement, and means fordisrupting connection between said forward and reverse power means andsaid engaging means.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE D. PARKER.

